Janoska’s dogged insistence to bring the car home in one piece, however, paid off. On lap 8, Janoska moved past the ailing car of Tristen Herbet and into fourth. “At that point, I was just hoping to pressure third and force an error, because I didn’t think I could out-brake him,” said Janoska. Hanging onto the tail of third place, the two managed to catch the second place ITB car and on the last lap, Janoska made the move into third.

Sunday’s race saw Janoska starting third. A first lap incident left the field jumbled and after the shuffle, Janoska emerged in third, again on the tail of Colburn. On lap 3, Janoska attempted to outbrake Colburn going into Rollercoaster, but realized that his inconsistant brakes were back. “I had him going into the corner, but the car wouldn’t woe and it didn’t stick,” said Janoska. As in the previous day’s race, Janoska hung onto Colburn, hoping to force an error.

On lap five, the opening was there and Janoska moved into second. “James went wide in Hog Pen and I just moved right and kept my foot in it,” said Janoska. Janoska managed to open a gap on Colburn. With a wounded car and no hope of catching first, Janoska’s goal for the the second half of the race was avoiding an unforced error. On the penultimate lap, Colburn had managed to close the distance, but Janoska used a slower car to hold up his rival and brought his Allsports Grand Prix CRX to the checkered flag in second place.

Burkhard immediately began hunting down the second-place MARRS-ITA of Bryan Pritt. Burkhard steadily closed the distance on Pritt. Burkhard, despite his fading brakes, ran his fastest laps in the second-half of the race but was unable to completely close the gap on second. Burkard managed to erase all but 1 second of the gap and, had the race been longer, would have been in a position to challenge Pritt.

Burkhard started Sunday’s race fifth in class. For much of the race he was involved in a ferocious four-way battle for second through fifth. Just past race mid-point, Burkhard advanced to fourth place, but lost considerable time when it took him several laps to move past an ITS Datsun. Overcoming this deficit, Burkhard managed to chase down the third-place Brian Price and moved into third place, and a podium position, on the last lap.

Burkhard had a tougher time in Sunday’s 40-mile feature race when she spent the race fighting an ill-handling car. During the fourth lap, Burkhard went off-course in turn 10 and lost considerable time. “We got aggressive on tire pressures to compensate for being down on power and maybe we were too aggressive,” said Burkhard.

Ginsberg would start Sunday’s 40-mile feature race from ninth on the ITA-grid. He would move up to eighth place by lap eight, but disaster struck while lapping a slower car. Ginsberg got into the marbles in turn eight and impacted the outside tire wall hard. Ginsberg was stoic about the incident, ” I didn’t do a great job of managing the situation. He wasn’t predictable but I had plenty of racing room and I goofed.”

Burkhard started second in the ITA field for Sunday’s feature race, but fell to fourth during the green flag scrum. It took until lap 15 of the 20-lap race for Burkhard to move into a podium position. Unfortunately, Burkhard would drop back into fourth four laps latter. Despite his best efforts, John was unable to regain a podium position and took the checkered flag in fourth place.

“I would have liked to have been on the podium both days, but any weekend you bring the home car in one piece and get a podium is a good weekend.” said Burkhard.

“I think 2009 may be one of my better seasons,” said long-time ITA-competitor Ginsberg. Ginsberg, who has competed since 2003 in a second-generation Honda CRX Si added “The addition of a two-time MARRS Champion will be beneficial to not only the team, but the class too.”

“We learned a great deal about the car last year and, with what we’ve learned, I think 2009 will be a good year for me,” said Burkhard. Burkhard, raced his second-generation CRX twice last year. The two-time ITC champion is realistic about the team’s potential in ITA – “Our cars will be the ones to beat.”

With six drivers planning full seasons and a partial season, team principle Roger Troxell is busy ensuring that the off-season builds and pre-season checks are completed. Troxell is putting in what can only be called a Roger-like performance to get the work finished.

“Even when the previous weekend went without a hitch, I won’t put a car on track without going over it first,” said Troxell. That attention is a major factor in the multi-year success of the Amigos. A trouble-free race (about 60 minutes of track time) usually results in four to six hours of labor to ensure the car is ready for its next outing. Troxell is matter of fact about this attention to detail. “It’s all part of being ready to race. Would you rather find a problem in the garage or when the part fails at race pace?”

“We are happy to be a part of Casa de Amigos racing, ” said François Duret, owner of Allsports Grand Prix. The team has been regulars at Duret’s facility for the past four years and has run hundreds of laps on the professionally designed track. The layout makes good use of the building’s floor pan and is reminiscent of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit.

“We are honored to have Allsports support us for a third year,” said Roger Troxell, team principle. According to Troxell, “We find that the skills that make you fast on the Allsports track are the same skills that make you fast on big tracks like Summit Point and Virginia International Raceway.”

Team driver and two-time MARRS ITC Champion John Burkhard agreed with Troxell. “Racing is more than hitting an apex. To win races, you need to learn strategy, patience, and how to use traffic to your advantage.” Burkhard, the 2005 recipient of the Paul H. Norair Trophy presented to the Region’s most improved driver, added, “I know that the time spent at Allsports helped me win the ITC Championship.”

“We think the CRX is an excellent car for ITB,” said Burkhard, the 2007 MARRS ITC champion. The MARRS ITB class has been dominated by 1970s European touring cars for a number years. Burk and Burkhard’s entry into the strong ITB field is likely to upset that dominance.

Burk will be competing in a long mothballed Si that is being freshened and overhauled by him and Roger Troxell. Burkhard will be competing in her ITC Honda CRX that is being converted to an Si by Troxell.

The first MARRS race of the 2009 will be held April 18-19 at Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point, WV.